Hearts and Minds
by Meleba
Summary: Sequel to Eyes and Ears. Continues the story of Nathan Holt and the others in The Normandy crew. OC/F!Shep
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_A/N - Here we go again! Wanted to post this earlier but had some sort of error when trying to post a new story on the site and decided to leave it for a few days. Might've mentioned it towards the end of the first part but this one will hopefully stray a bit more away from the canon story. I believe that will make it more entertaining to read. Please note that I'll post the first two chapters at once so that you don't miss the second one.  
_

* * *

"...ander!" A distant voice yelled through the filters of technology. Squirming, Shepard tried to roll over to try and defend her sleep with the help of a pillow. Sluggishly, she searched around with her hand but couldn't feel anything other than the cold, hard substance she was on.

"...ing hell..." She murmured before realizing that something wasn't right. Her bed wasn't cold nor hard. It was warm and soft.

"...ard, can... ar me?" The voice kept nagging her and Shepard tried opening her eyes with as much strength she could muster. This was when she realised she didn't have much strength at all.

"... I don't remember drinking last night..." She wheezed out. Her throat was as dry as a desert. After some struggle, she was in a sitting position and her eyes were busy adjusting the light. Whatever it was that she had done last night she would not repeat.

"Commander Shepard!" The voice yelled and now Shepard noticed that the voice was wrong as well. It neither belonged to Joker nor any other crew member that she knew of. Coughing lightly and frowning at the pain it brought with it, Shepard responded to the voice that seemed so eager to gain her attention.

"What is it and who are you?" She struggled to voice as she looked around the room she was in. This was not The Normandy unless they had done some major rebuilding while she was out. "... And where am I?"

"Good, you're awake." Well, who would be able to sleep through your constant screaming? Shepard wanted to ask that as well but her throat still cursed her for the words she had already let out. "Just remain calm and I'll get you out of there."

"Are we in a hurry?" Shepard asked as she swung her legs over the side. Now that her eyes could actually see, she recognized the thing she had been laying on as a medical bench. "...Did I get injured?" She followed up. Her mind struggled trying to remember exactly what had happened before she had been out cold.

"All your questions will be answered. For now, I need you to search the desk behind you, next to the door." Looking over her shoulder, she saw the desk mentioned and cursed how far away it was. With shaky legs, she jumped off the bench and slowly made her way over to her goal. She felt completely helpless as she walked and wondered how badly she had been hurt. It felt like she had not used her muscles in years.

"What am I searching for?" Shepard asked whoever it was that had woken her up. She was impressed at how quickly the woman on the other end had gone from frantically tried to wake her up only to become completely calm once she had succeeded. She must be a professional in whatever it is she does.

"The gun in the top drawer." She answered in the same calm voice and now Shepard's mind was sending off alarms all over the place. She had just woken up in, what seemed to be, a hospital of some sort, and now she was asked to jump into a fight?

"And wh-" She was about to ask for more information before the other woman interrupted her.

"Geth are inside the facility. I'm sure you understand that a gunshot to their head is the only way to communicate with them." That only raised more questions in Shepard's head. What place was deemed important enough for the geth to launch an attack on it? Were they after her? "Grab the gun and leave the room. Find cover quickly, some of them are on their way." That was the kind of info that Shepard liked. Short and direct. She quickly grabbed the gun and headed out the door.

"So where are they coming from?" She asked just as a shot passed by over her head. She quickly ducked behind the nearest container and noticed once again how dull her senses were. "Never mind..." She grumbled as she shook her head to regain her focus.

"You've been out of it for a while, Commander. Just take it slow and easy." The woman instructed, almost like Shepard was in the middle of a training session and nothing more.

"This better not be some elaborate prank." She said as she began shooting towards the geth. There only seemed to be two of them. Which was a relief, considering her aim. A missed shot after missed shot. It was like her arms and eyes had zero coordination.

"Take a deep breath and fo-"

"I know how to fucking shoot a gun!" Shepard snapped. She was not some fresh recruit that had never held a gun before. She had taken down countless of geth before these. She had even taken down krogan, ancient beings and even Saren only months prior to this. Might have been more than a couple of months though, depending on how long she was out cold. It took a few shots and a few lucky dodges but soon the geth were down and Shepard stood up, breathing heavily and sweat running down her forehead. "I'm so out of of shape..." She mumbled to herself.

"That's to be expecte-"

"How low do I have to whisper for you to not be able to hear me!?" Shepard exclaimed as she began moving towards the first door she could see.

"Don't take that way." The voice ordered and Shepard angrily stopped and looked up to the nearest security cam. "The door to your left is a much safer route." The voice suggested before an explosion was heard on the other end. "I won't be able to lead you but continue down the path I suggested and you should run into someo-" Was all that was heard before the communication abruptly ended. Shepard remained standing in the middle of the room with a hand resting on her hip and the other still getting familiar with the weight of the gun. A feeling that she never thought she would feel again.

"What the fuck is going on..." She asked herself, hoping that the old voice, or a new one, would suddenly appear to answer. Shaking her head, she headed through the suggested door, hoping that she would get some answers soon. She hated having to fumble around in the dark like this.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The asari had yet to notice him. One would think that someone in her position would be able to sense when she was being followed but here she was. Standing right next to Holt in an elevator after having been shadowed by him for the major part of the day, still clueless about his presence. Either she was only pretending to be oblivious or he had gotten the wrong info.

"Tell them that I'll give them my answer once they give me all the numbers I asked for." She demanded of someone on the other line of her omni-tool. Holt had already listened in on enough meaningless shit so far today to be bothered to listen in once again. But maybe that was her plan? "They'll simply have to-... Ok, can you start at the beginning again, just so we can be certain you haven't missed anything. That was enough for Holt. He silently ordered the elevator to stop at the next level while keeping his cloak up. He quickly and quietly stepped out and left the confused and irritated asari behind him.

"Another dead end, Who would've guessed." Holt mumbled to himself as he headed towards the local Cerberus safe house. He had been sent to this planet in hope that the asari he had been tailing during the day had some sort of connection to The Shadow Broker. A quick search of her personal files turned up clean and so did all her daily activities. Only thing worth reporting wouldn't even be worth reporting to Cerberus. Her husband would probably like to know that she was secretly seeing some asari without him knowing though. That had been the only entertaining part of Holt's day, watching two asari make out in an empty conference room for a few minutes.

Time flew by a bit faster as he made sure the footage of the asari tongue wrestling was saved on several servers so that it would never be lost, and before long he was back at the safe house. Scanning his omni-tool, he was quickly let in and nodded a greeting to the poor sod who's job was to sit in here all day to keep an eye on the comm-room. It served as a direct comm-link to several high ranking Cerberus members and was the only way for Holt to contact them. Though a sound he had not been expecting greeted him once everything went online.

"Long time no see, Agent Holt." A voice that Holt very rarely got to hear but was distinct enough to still easily stand out.

"So sorry, TIM, I must've dialed the wrong number." Holt joked as The Illusive Man chuckled lightly.

"Don't worry, I was the one that wanted to speak with you."

"Can it wait until I've do-"

"No." TIM interrupted. "I'm afraid this cannot be postponed."

"Sounds serious." Holt sighed as he crossed his arms. He had a feeling that he was once again about to be thrown into a completely different mission again. He didn't know exactly how Cerberus expected him to deal with The Shadow Broker in any way when they kept shoving other work onto him. Maybe TIM simply didn't want him to deal with The Shadow Broker because they were the same person! That must be it!

"It is." TIM admitted as he blew out a puff of smoke. "We had actu-"

"Are you The Shadow Broker?" Holt quickly asked. It was a long-shot but hell, let's fucking go for it. TIM didn't answer and simply stared at Holt before continuing.

"We had actually planned for you to be part of this next thing for some time. Recent events has forced us to act sooner." TIM explained as Holt rolled his eyes. So he was about to get some more work dumped on him. If it was another tour of Cerberus facilities to check for any security breaches he would file a complaint. To whom, he did not know. Maybe Miranda but he had not spoken with her for over a year.

"Will I be getting any info about this mission?"

"Yes." TIM shortly answered before picking up his glass of whiskey. Holt could kill a man for a glass of whiskey right now.

"But I won't be getting any info from you, I'm guessing?" Holt said as he forced his eyes away from the drink.

"No." TIM said with a smile. "There's a ship waiting for you down by the docks. You'll get your mission objective from your new superior who's hopefully waiting for you at your destination."

"Hold on, hold on, hold on..." There were several things about what TIM said there that didn't sit well with Holt. "First off, how do I know which ship I'll be taking. Secondly, who's my new superior and why did you add _hopefully_?" Holt asked as he rubbed his forehead. He knew how much Cerberus enjoyed keeping their employees in the dark as much as possible but being sent off to an unknown location was something Holt knew was a bad idea.

"I believe you've met the pilot of the ship before." TIM answered the first question as he put down the now empty glass. Holt briefly wondered if TIM might be a drunk. "And I added _hopefully _because your superior might be delayed."

"What, heavy traffic?" Holt asked while shrugging his shoulders. He still had not gotten an answer to who his superior was.

"Have fun, Holt." Was all TIM said before he ended the conversation and the comm link between them died. Silently cursing his boss who was secretly a drunkard, Holt started walking with heavy steps towards the docks. The walk to the docks wasn't a long one. Cerberus was quite good at choosing locations for their bases or safe houses. Always close to the docks for quick escapes, if it was needed. He didn't recognize any of the ships though. Hopefully, whoever the pilot was would see Holt and approach him.

"Should I have brought a sign with me that read 'Cerberus' or something?..." Holt mused as he struggled to think of who the pilot could be. He had not exactly been spending a lot of time on ships while working for Cerberus and had certainly not become friends with any of its pilots.

"Holy shit, they weren't lying." A man's voice suddenly exclaimed behind him. A voice Holt very much recognized.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"So let me get this straight..." Shepard began as she was leading the two other still breathing humans she had met so far in this geth infested place. "Simply put, this is a medical research facility?"

"Yes." The younger one answered. Jacob, his name was. His whole body screamed Alliance soldier and Shepard was glad that he was the first one that she had met here. She had asked if this was an Alliance building but Jacob had told her nothing other than that it wasn't.

"It's not _just _a medical research facility..." The older one jumped in with a sigh. Dr. Wilson, as this one demanded to be referred as, had done nothing but complain so far. He also wasn't much help against the geth since his arm 'was hurting'. Shepard rolled her eyes, using him as a human shield would make him more useful.

"Details..." Shepard waved off his incoming rant. "And you've spent the last two years patching me up?"

"Not just patch you up." Jacob answered again. "You were, by all standards, dead."

"That's the thing I find it difficult to wrap my head around.." Shepard said as she stopped abruptly to turn and look at the two men. "You can't cure _death_!"

"Details..." Wilson responded with a mumble and Shepard would admit that it was quite witty if he wasn't such an ass.

"Let's say that you did... bring me back from the dead. That couldn't have been cheap." She said before turning around and continuing towards the station's docks.

"It wasn't." Jacob answered once again. Short, direct answers. Just the way Shepard liked it. "And... I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell you where that money comes from." He later added. Drawn out, vague answers. Just the way Shepard didn't like it. Glancing back, she saw him looking towards Wilson, searching for some sort of confirmation.

"If you wanna tell her it'll be on your head." Wilson warned. Now Shepard was really curious. As they walked up towards the docks, Shepard gave Jacob a questioning look. Sighing, the man scratched the back of his head before answering.

"I think it'll be better to let Miranda explain."

"The one that woke me up?" Shepard confirmed. The name Miranda had popped up a couple of times since she met these two. Apparently, she was their boss or something.

"The one that is probably dead by now?" Wilson asked with a scoff before he took the lead to put in the password for the next set of doors.

"Miranda wouldn't let a couple of geth get her." Jacob said with a lot of confidence. "She also wouldn't want us to leave with Shepard without her."

"Well, Miranda is not here so I'll be the one in charge." Wilson said with even more anger in his voice. Shepard had thought he was strange from the moment she met him but now he was acting straight out mad. He seemed nervous and very eager to get away as soon as possible, even if there was a chance this Miranda woman might still be alive.

"I still think we should try and get into contact with her." Jacob tried once again. A ping came from the small pad Wilson had been typing on and the doors started to open.

"How can we get into contact with a corpse?" Wilson angrily answered before he turned towards the open door only to have a gun pointing at him. Shepard quickly brought her gun up and aimed it towards the newcomer. Jacob did the same but quickly did the same but lowered it soon after. Shepard glanced towards the soldier back to the woman in the doorway. Guess it was safe to say that this was Miranda.

"Do I look like a corpse to you, Wilson?" Miranda asked through gritted teeth and Shepard could sense the anger seething from her. Compared to her, Wilson only looked slightly upset.

"Miranda! You wer-" Was all he managed to say before the gun Miranda was holding fired. Shepard had to suppress the instinct of returning fire as she was still not completely sure what was going on. Humans were not designed to deal with things such as this after being gone for two years. Damn, that would take a long time to get used to. What had she missed during all this time? Lightly shaking her head to get her mind back in the game, she straightened her aim.

"Shoot first, don't bother asking questions later?" She asked the woman who seemed a bit more calm now that Wilson was dead.

"I had already gotten all the answers I was looking for." Miranda answered with a calm voice.

"Alright, this time I'm just as lost as Shepard here." Jacob said as he went up the unmoving corpse of Wilson. "Why did you kill him, Miranda?"

"Wilson was the one behind the geth attack." Miranda answered as she motioned for them to follow. Jacob quickly obeyed but Shepard was not about to be dragged by an invisible leash. Jacob must have a lot of respect for Miranda if he just believed her like that.

"Could everyone just slow down a bit and fucking explain to me what's going on?" She snapped as she stepped over the body, weapon drawn but not aimed.

"We'll explain as much as we can once we're on the shuttle." Miranda calmly responded as she waited for Shepard to follow her.

"Well, Wilson was about to explain it all on the shuttle later, as well." Shepard looked back towards the body. "And unless you do whatever it was you did to me and do the same to him. He won't be explaining anything to me."

"Wilson was about to deliver you directly into the hands of your enemies." Miranda said with a sigh before turning towards Jacob. "You haven't told her a thing yet, have you? I must say, I'm surprised you managed to keep it a secret."

"Tell me _what_!?" Shepard once again snapped.

"I still think we should tell her before we get on the shuttle." Jacob said in what he believed to be a whisper. Shepard still heard him though, her hearing wasn't as dull as all her other senses after being... dead. Miranda seemed to think about it for a few moments before she turned back towards Shepard.

"We're Cerberus." Those words almost made Shepard shoot them right where they stood but decided to be more civil about it.

"You're Cerberus..." Shepard said, looking for confirmation that she had not misheard.

"We're Cerberus." Miranda repeated. Shepard took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead with her free hand.

"Correct me if I'm wrong... But I was under the belief that _you're_ my enemy."

"It's true that you might not have gotten along with our organization in the past..." Jacob began awkwardly.

"Right now we have a common goal and a common enemy." Miranda finished.

"You're telling me that you're going after the reapers?" Shepard asked and while she didn't trust anyone from Cerberus, the reapers were the bigger threat here. If Cerberus had switched their attention from killing Alliance officers and looking for ways to exterminate every other species in the world, she wasn't gonna complain.

"You'll have all your questions answered once we get off this station." Miranda reminded her. An explosion was heard in the distance and Shepard guessed that even hitching a ride from Cerberus was better than going down in flames with this place. "I did not spend the last two years reviving you just so that you could die here." Miranda continued, looking slightly irritated.

"I'm keeping the gun." Shepard declared as she resumed walking, motioning for Miranda to lead her to the shuttle. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to use it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Just like old times, huh?" The man to his left happily exclaimed as he piloted the ship, heading towards... Holt still didn't actually know where he was going but felt that he could trust this pilot easily enough. After all, Joker had probably been the one he had gotten along with the most on the Normandy back in the day. Hopefully, there would be no hard feelings from Joker's side concerning Holt's faked death.

"Just like old times." Holt replied with a grin as he took a sip of his drink. His work has made him way too paranoid and he needed to do something about it. Joker wouldn't kill him or sell him to some batarian slave traders. Better save to your strength to worry about the real threats out there. Also the thought of Joker forcing Holt to do anything made him chuckle. Because of Joker's condition he would have a hard time lifting a pistol without breaking his hand.

"Still can't believe it was you I was supposed to go pick up. I thought it was gonna be another 'Go pick up my grandson! He got himself stuck on some far away planet after the asari he ran off with stole all his creds and left him stranded'." He said, imitating the voice of someone Holt had probably not met.

"Is that a regular occurrence?"

"It's happened once or twice." Joker answered with a chuckle. "Anyway, I want to know the details of how you ended up here. 'I died but then I got better' is not a good explanation." Joker added before Holt had a chance to say anything. "Coming back from the dead means that you're a zombie. Everyone knows that they eat brains and you're not trying to eat mine."

"Yours wouldn't be a very filling meal." Holt threw in a joke before deciding to say exactly what had happened. "Well, after the explosion on Virmire I was stuck beneath some rubble for a day or two."

"Rough."

"Rough." Holt agreed. "Cerberus was the first group to find me and pretty much made me choose between joining them or hoping that someone else would find me before it was too late."

"Really rough!" Joker exclaimed. "I feel like shit now knowing that we pretty much left you down there."

"Don't be. I wanted people to believe that I was a goner anyway."

"What exactly was your plan?" Joker asked as Holt finished his drink. Good thing that Joker was piloting, meant that Holt had dibs on all the refreshments. "I mean, I understand that you did what you did to throw The Shadow Broker off your back."

"How did the rest of the crew react to hearing those news, by the way?" Holt asked, slightly curious.

"There wasn't much time to talk or think about it. But some took it harder than others."

"You cried?"

"Pft... Maybe when I thought about all the creds you owed me from our poker games that I would never receive."

"You cried..." Holt teased the pilot and was awarded with a half-assed glare.

"Answer the question. What was your original plan? Where would you go after Virmire?"

"Probably Omega but... Well, I guess I would go with whatever happened."

"You were just gonna hide until you died of old age?"

"In my line of work, you usually don't force anything. If I didn't have any good options I would lie and wait until a good option popped up."

"That doesn't sound like something you would do."

"Never said I was good at what I do."

"You have, actually. I remember you bragging to no end."

"Look who's talking." Holt laughed together with the pilot. They spent the next few hours catching up on just about everything else that had happened the last two years. From Joker joining Cerberus to the different missions they had been one since joining. They tried to avoid certain subjects until Joker brought one of them up.

"It's a shame we won't be able to bring the whole gang back together." He said. He could've meant the fact that a lot of the old Normandy squad had gone missing in pretty much the same way that Holt had. He could also have meant that some of them, the ones with the Alliance and the ones with Cerberus, were now technically enemies. But Holt knew that he was talking about the person that had made them a group. "I still feel... I still feel like it's my fault."

"From what I've read over what happened, there was nothing anyone could've done."

"I could've listened to Shepard earlier..." Joker said with a mumble. Holt regarded the pilot in silence as he struggled to think of what he could say. Joker would probably still blame himself for Shepard's death no matter what Holt said.

"You should blame the people who wanted Shepard dead instead of yourself." He tried.

"I'm not blaming myself, I'm only cursing myself for being such an idiot." Joker said with little conviction. Holt decided to drop the topic for now. This clearly was something that wouldn't be fixed after just one conversation. Wanting to avoid falling into an uncomfortable silence, Holt decided to change the subject.

"Where exactly are we going? I was only told... well, nothing." Joker seemed eager to change the subject as well and happily answered.

"To a Cerberus station that's officially of no importance whatsoever."

"Which means it's quite important." Holt chuckled. "Any idea of _why _we're going there?"

"Wasn't told anything. If I had to guess it has something to do with all the human colonies that's... vanished." Holt knew what Joker was talking about. Human colonies suddenly being devoid of all human life at the edge of council space had been all over the news lately. Rumors among Cerberus operatives said that Alliance were too slow to do anything about it and that TIM might do something about it soon. If this was what Holt was gonna deal with for a while then The Shadow Broker would have to wait another few years it seemed.

"Batarian slavers?" Holt guessed.

"That would be my guess as well but that feels... I don't know..."

"Too obvious."

"Exactly..." Joker said with a sigh. "Well, guess we'll find out soon..."

"Let's hope we'll stick together for a while longer then." Holt said with a smile as he grabbed another drink.

"Just no more missions involving big-ass bombs, please." Joker laughed.

"No objection from me." Holt agreed. Let's just hope this new superior was as good as his last one had been. Although that would be quite a difficult feat."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Shepard stood with her arms crossed and a frown on her face while listening to the bullshit the holographic man in front of her was spewing. The Illusive Man, someone she certainly wouldn't mind putting a bullet through the head of. At the same time, someone she definitively would mind working together with.

"I think we can both agree that this is something that will need to be looked into?" The man asked as he finished summarizing what she had missed while... well, dead.

"It's something that needs to be looked into, for sure." Shepard agreed. Entire colonies of humans just disappearing into the air? Not on her watch. "What I don't agree on is that I have to work for you to do it." She could always head back to the Alliance, she didn't need to work for Cerberus.

"The Alliance are not taking this threat as seriously as they should."

"They will once I get back."

"They won't." The man said in a calm voice, as if he was speaking to some child. Shepard wish that she could somehow inflict damage on a person through a holographic image. "There are only a select few in the Alliance that knows what we're really dealing with here. The rest of them insists that it's simply a large group of batarian slavers." He explained as he put out the cigar he had been smoking. "And that's not even the main reason to why you can't go back to your old Alliance."

"And what's the main reason?" Shepard asked, expecting something along the line with that 'she owes them for reviving her'.

"How do you think they'll react once they learn that it was Cerberus that brought you back?" Now that was a low blow.

"So unless I work for you, you'll tell everyone how you've planted some control chip in my brain?"

"There's no chip implanted in your head." He answered quickly. "And no matter what you believe, our goals are the same here. Having our colonies ending up empty without any clues to what happened is bad for both the Alliance and Cerberus." Shepard sighed as she found it more and more difficult to disagree with the man. "Also, you'll hardly be working for me. You'll be free to deal with our problem in whatever way you want."

"So you'll not try and control me in any way?" Shepard asked, not convinced.

"We brought back you, Shepard. Not a puppet that look like you."

"So what exactly will you give me in order to deal with _our _problem?" Shepard continued to ask. She could at least listen to what they were gonna offer her. Nothing was stopping her from simply leaving later on and heading back to the Alliance. There were good people there who would still listen to her, no matter what rumors that might pop up.

"A good ship, a good crew and enough credits to get the job done." The Illusive Man answered, seemingly glad that she was at least willing to listen.

"The crew makes the ship, and I have a good crew in the old Normandy one."

"You _had_ a good crew, Shepard. Most of them are either missing or unreachable." Or dead, Shepard thought to herself. "I'm still working on reaching a few of the people I ha-"

"I don't get to pick my own crew?" Shepard interrupted. "I thought you were gonna let me handle this my way?"

"And you shall. I'm not forcing these people onto you but they are the best of the best. What would be the point of me recommending people that are not up the the task when I want this to succeed as much as you?"

"And what if, on the off chance, that this is nothing but batarians slavers being batarian slavers? Won't this be a lot of wasted time and credits for you?"

"The one thing we can truly agree on is the reaper threat, Shepard. If there's a small chance that they got something to do with these missing colonists, then we can not turn a blind eye to it." Shepard looked at the man for a long time before letting out a deep sigh. She had never thought she would see the day where she joined forces with Cerberus.

"Fine, I'll look into it. But if this turns out to be nothing but batarian slavers..."

"You'll be free to head back to the Alliance." The Illusive Man finished. "Good to see that you're willing to put our history aside for the real threat."

"I won't forget what you've done in the past." Shepard threatened. "Once all of this is over, I'll be coming for you."

"Because of you waking up earlier than planned, it'll take some time to get the dossiers ready." He said, ignoring Shepard's threat.

"Sorry, I'm a light sleeper."

"We're also putting the finishing touches on the ship. You'll have to make due with a smaller one for your first mission. And this mission is only possible because of you being a _light sleeper_."

"Go on."

"A colony, not too far from here, went dark only hours ago. If we hurry we might be able to find some evidence for our theory."

"That's it's not batarians but the reapers that are behind all this." Shepard said, understanding what The Illusive Man was hinting at. "So I'm on my own for this first mission? Doesn't sound very safe."

"Miranda and Jacob will be part of your team." He said as he looked over to the side before a small smile formed on his face. "And it seems like another one just arrived. Someone you might recognize."

"What, someone from my old crew?"

"I'll let you see for yourself." Was all The Illusive Man said before shutting down the comm, leaving Shepard alone in the dark room as she rubbed her head. The energy bars and energy drink she had received earlier had not been enough. Technically, she had not had anything to eat for the past two years. A decent dinner would really hit the spot now. Sadly, saving the galaxy again took priority. She turned and left for the room that Miranda and Jacob had seen her off in before she had met The Illusive Man. If she was about to go on a possibly dangerous mission, she should probably take a few minutes to get to know them. As she entered the room, she saw that Miranda was busy with her omni-tool while Jacob stared out the window.

"Seems like we'll be working together for now." Shepard said as she approached the man. "Have you two gotten any information about what's happening now?"

"Miranda just did, she doesn't seem too happy about it though." He answered as Shepard glanced over to the woman who was typing away on her omni-tool.

"That's her when she's angry? She looks the same to me."

"I guess I've worked with her long enough to be able to see the difference."

"You two have worked together for a long time?"

"A couple of years. I was in the Alliance before joining Cerberus." That explained the Alliance aura he was emitting. You can take the soldier out of the army but you can't take the army out of the soldier, it seemed.

"Anyway, she's upset because of the mission?"

"Not sure. You would have to ask her." And that's exactly what she was gonna do. She was not gonna have any crew members that didn't even want to be on the mission. She walked over to the woman who put down the omni-tool once she noticed that Shepard was there.

"Commander Shepard. I understand that I'll be working with you during this mission."

"So it seems. You have any objections you want to voice before we head off?"

"What do you mean, Commander?"

"Jacob told me that you looked upset. I guessed it had something to do with the mission?" Miranda briefly glanced towards Jacob who did his best pretending to be fascinated by something outside the window.

"I'm simply questioning The Illusive Man's choice of one of the crew members." She explained after a while.

"You're questioning his or hers skills? I was told that I would be working with the best of the best." From what The Illusive Man had said, the other crew member that would join them now is someone she had met before. If that was an old enemy or friend she didn't know.

"I'm not questioning his skills." Miranda sighed just as Shepard heard footsteps coming towards them from one of the corridors. A couple of very familiar voices followed those footsteps, voices that caused Shepard to completely forget about the mission and everything else as she heard the voices get closer.

"Are they serious? I'm supposed to pilot a ship and I'm not even allowed to help put 'the finishing touches' on it?" The voice of the pilot that had gotten them out of so many rough spots. The pilot that she now remembered had been the last one to leave the old Normandy before it went up in flames.

"They probably don't want you to attempt any heavy lifting. You know, like a chair or a lamp. It could break you." Shepard really shouldn't be this surprised. Her gut had told her that this was a possibility ever since they took down Saren. But her mind still struggled to believe what her ears were hearing.

"And the temporary ship they've given us! There's like no leg room at all for the pilot." The two men finally came into view as they entered the room. In the corner of her vision, Shepard noticed Miranda roll her eyes but that's not what Shepard was focused on at the moment. Her mind was completely locked on to the man walking next to Joker.

"Like you have any use of those anyway. This is probably as much as you've..." The other man stopped as his eyes met Shepard's. Everyone in the room was still and silent as no one said a word until the man almost whispered in a voice that didn't seem to believe what it was saying. "Shepard?"

"Holt?" Shepard whispered back as she struggled to think of anything to say or anything to do. Joker was saying something about not being able to believe it but Shepard wasn't listening. Since her mind couldn't decide on the next course of action, her body took command. She walked with quick steps towards the man she thought had died on Virmire. Towards the man that she had so many times wished was still around after their victory on The Citadel. He remained standing where he had stopped, seemingly unprepared for her sudden advance. Once she was within arms reach, she did the first thing that came to her now somewhat recollected mind. Her fist connected straight to Holt's jaw and he fell with a thud to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Holt stared up at the ceiling, trying to figure out exactly what just happened. This Shepard was no ghost, that punch stung just as much as back in the day. The flare in her eyes held the same power as the eyes he had first seen those years ago. Her voice was the same, if maybe a bit hoarse. Though mostly it was the punch that proved that this was the very same Jane Shepard he knew. The very same Jane Shepard that had died.

"Don't punch me, please! My head isn't as thick-headed as Holt's!" Joker pleaded. Holt wondered if he was in any life threatening danger here. Fight or flee? Play dead? He wasn't very good at playing dead while in vision of the people he wanted to fool.

"You're working for Cerberus now, Joker?" Holt heard Shepard asked with a great amount of anger in her voice. Mixed with that voice was some other emotion but mostly anger. The punch had contained quite a bit of anger as well. Holy shit did it hurt, this would leave a bruise.

"Long story. Aft-"

"And _you _are not only working for Cerberus but you're alive as well!?" Shepard interrupted him and her voice was directed towards Holt. Glancing up towards his interrogator, he noticed Miranda holding back a smug grin.

"That's also a long story." Holt answered as he was about to stand up before he felt Shepard's glare intensifying. Maybe remaining seated wasn't such a bad idea.

"And his story isn't that interesting anyway." Joker chimed in. "How the hell are you still with us, Shepard?" Joker asked as he still seemed to not believe what he was seeing. "And since when are you with Cerberus?"

"I'm not with Cerberus." Shepard declared.

"Technically, you're wor-"

"I'm _not _with Cerberus!" Shepard exclaimed, interrupting Miranda. She turned back towards Holt and Joker. Holt had tried to subtly move away but didn't make it far. "But you two are..." Shepard sighed as if she didn't want to believe her own words. "Please don't tell me it was a decision made lightly."

"Was sort of a last on my list of possible employers..." Joker mumbled, acting like he was being scolded by a mother.

"Wasn't presented with any other choice, really.." Holt mumbled as well, deeming it safe enough to stand up.

"You were free to decline." Miranda reminded. Not that almost certain death was any choice worth mentioning.

"You were the one who recruited Holt?" Shepard asked the other woman. "When was this?"

"After Virmire." Holt answered.

"More like during Virmire." Joker corrected.

"... What's that supposed to mean?" Shepard asked, looking more confused by every answer she got.

"We really don't have the time to listen to two years of events." Miranda reminded the group. "And I've spent enough time with Holt to know that I would rather not listen to his stories if I can help it."

"Hasn't it been like a year since last time we spoke?"

"Yes, it's been a good year." Same old Miranda, it seemed.

"I can tell you my story, if you'd like?" Joker offered to the Cerberus officer.

"I just want to hear the reason as to why you two are working with the organization that tried to kill us more times than one!" Shepard almost shouted, getting dangerously close to punching someone again. Holt took a step backwards, just to be safe.

"I've already read your profile, Mr. Moreau." Miranda said before turning with a serious glare towards Shepard. "And while I understand you wanting to catch up with old crew members, we have a mission to deal with that takes priority." Holt wondered if Miranda had suffered some sort of head trauma as she ordered Shepard around. If there was one thing he remembered it was that if Shepard was upset, she had no problems making it known to others.

"Fair enough." Huh? That was it? Shepard turned her attention back towards Holt and Joker before she continued. "I expect you two to tell your stories as we head over to..."

"Freedom's Progress." Miranda answered, which reminded Holt that he still had no idea why he had been summoned here in the first place.

"I actually feel quite lost here as well, you know?" Holt began as Shepard started walking towards the docks. "I still haven't been told why I'm even here."

"Depending on what we'll be able to find on Freedom's Progress, it might be a very short mission." The other man who Holt, now realized, didn't know the name of. They had all fallen in behind Shepard as she walked with determined steps towards the ship.

"Who're you?" He asked eloquently.

"Jacob Taylor. I'll be working with you until further notice." Jacob answered with a small salute. "Interesting to meet you in person, Miranda has spoken about you a couple of times."

"I like how you went with 'interesting to meet you' instead of 'good to meet you'. Makes it easy to guess what has been said about me."

"Have I been mentioned by anyone?" Joker asked to which Jacob simply shook his head. "Ungrateful pricks... If I wanted this lack of respect I would have stayed in..." Joker started mumbling so Holt tuned him out and looked over towards Miranda.

"I'm guessing this mission has something to do with all the human colonies that have recently become ghost towns?"

"Exactly. And with your history of vanishing, The Illusive Man thought it to be a good idea to bring you along." She answered and Holt threw a glance towards Shepard to see her reaction, of which there was none. He wished he could have a chance to explain exactly what happened on Virmire before people started making jokes about it."

"As long as we don't get Holt to plant a bomb or something, he should be okay." Joker, who had stopped his mumbling, said with a chuckle. Holt made a mental note to find a cure for the pilot's illness later so that he could punch him in the face without breaking him. Or maybe he could trick Shepard into punching the man somehow, that would deal a lot more damage. First things first though, explain everything he could to Shepard. He was not gonna keep her in the dark anymore or disappear now that she was back.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"In short, Cerberus was the only place where they actually let me fly." The pilot explained as Shepard took it all in.

"I find it hard to believe that the Alliance would keep you grounded for long."

"I found it hard to believe as well until they pointed me in the direction of a certified psychiatrist..." Joker mumbled. "First I had to prove them that my physical illness wasn't going to get in the way of me flying. Now all of a sudden I also had to 'prove' to them that I was actually sane in the head."

"My death hit you that hard?" Shepard asked, noticing what a weird thing that was to ask in the first place. Speaking of one's own death would take some getting used to, for sure.

"It hit all of us hard." Joker said as he started to prepare for landing. Shepard couldn't believe how quickly time had flown since they had left the Cerberus base. And so far she had only heard Joker's excuse for joining his current organization. "Whatever you want to admit it or not, Shepard, you were the only thing holding the team together."

"It seemed to me that you got along with each other." She said to which Joker threw her an unconvinced look. "Okay, most of you got along just fine."

"True, but we had no reason to stick together once you weren't there to... glue us together, I guess." Joker said as Shepard stretched her back while looking out the window. Freedom's Progress really was dark and desolate for a colony, something had obviously happened there. "You're gonna give Holt a similar interrogation later or what?" He added with a chuckle.

"This was hardly an interrogation." Shepard said with a smile of her own. "And I do want him to shed some light over what happened at Virmire." Shepard continued to which she noticed Joker shifting slightly in his seat. "He's told you what happened, hasn't he?" She asked the pilot.

"I... I can't really remember. Holt says a lot of things." Joker tried to dodge the question but Shepard wouldn't have any of it and gave him on of her patented glares. "Ugh, look..." Joker continued with a sigh. "He told me what happened but I really think you should hear it from him instead of from me." He said as he landed the shuttle on a vacant landing pad. Shepard looked at her pilot for a few moments before shrugging and stood up.

"Fair enough." She said as she started walking towards the door to the room where the others were waiting.

"Just so you know, Shepard. We're happy to see you back in the world of the living."

"'We'? Holt said that as well?" She quickly asked.

"He didn't have to say it. It looked quite obvious to me. Even if you did knocked him down with a right-hook." Joker chuckled as Shepard's mind started processing what she had learned from her discussion with Joker and what she wanted to know from her discussion with Holt. Stepping into the back of the shuttle where the others were sitting, she wondered if she would have a chance to even speak with Holt during this mission.

"We're ready to head out, Commander?" Miranda asked as she and Jacob quickly stood up as she entered. Holt remained seated and looked to be way too deep in thought to even have noticed Shepard entering the room.

"To find out what happened here we'll need to find the nearest surveillance station and check the vids." She said as she moved towards the back doors. Holt sprung up as he must have noticed her presence.

"All the surveillance vids from the other colonies were blank." Jacob reminded as they all checked their weapons.

"We'll have to hope they won't be blank this time." Shepard continued as the doors opened and she cautiously walked out. No hostiles had been sighted nearby but it never hurt to be careful.

"Do we have a plan B?" Miranda asked as the three others followed closely behind. Shepard felt a bit more relaxed that she had people with her that seemed experienced enough to know when to follow without having to be told to. Although, she already knew that about Holt.

"That is plan B." Shepard explained as they quickly moved on. "Plan A is finding survivors.

"No survivors wer-"

"-Were found in any others colonies." Shepard interrupted Jacob before he could shoot down all her plans. "Sooner or later there's bound to be someone that managed to hide or fight back." They continued on mostly in silence except for the occasional update on their surroundings or Joker contacting them about some other signal close to them that seemed to be active. The shuttle was nowhere near advanced enough to pinpoint the signals location though. The silence was new to Shepard, especially in a group that contained Holt.

"I hear something..." Miranda suddenly whispered as they neared the center of the colony. Shepard focused her ears but couldn't hear anything. She was just about to ask what Miranda had heard when bullets suddenly flew past her. She quickly took cover behind a wall and threw a glance in the direction the shots had come from.

"Defense drones!" Jacob shouted as they started firing at the mechanical opponents. They were no geth but were small in size and flying.

"We have to lower their mobility before we can have a chance of hitting them!" Shepard yelled over towards the others. Her movement was stale and her aim was a bit off. Being dead for two years did that to you, it seems.

"I need to get closer before I can hit them with a singularity!" Miranda informed as she was busy keeping shields up as the drones kept being fast moving pests.

"Anything you can do, Holt!?" Shepard yelled over towards were she had last seen him. While she should have expected it, he was no where to be seen. She guessed that his tactics on the field were the same as old times.

"Where did Holt go!?" Jacob yelled just as a small explosion was heard.

"He's around somewhere." Shepard explained as they took the opportunity to aim more carefully now that the drones were searching for this new threat. Turned out the new threat was one of the drones that had 'somehow' gone rogue. Shepard was willing to bet a lot of credits that Holt was behind the rogue drone. It took just over a minute for them to take out all the targets as Miranda managed to get close enough to slow them down. Once they were all dealt with, Holt was back next to them, as if he had never left.

"You should let us know when you plan to run off to pull something like that." Jacob quickly scolded him.

"They react to movement and sound. If I can bypass both of them then that's what I'll do." Holt explained as the two of them stared each other down. The whole scene felt strongly nostalgic to Shepard as it reminded her of her old crew and couldn't help but flash a grin.

"Just like old times, huh." She said in a whisper and was surprised to see Holt notice and flash a small grin of his own.

"Just like old times..."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_A/N - Busy busy busy, sorry for late chapter. This author's note is not because of the delay though. If I did apologize for slow chapters you would see this every time I posted something. No, this authors note is because I wanted to thank you all for your great support. "Eyes and Ears" hit 100k views a couple of days ago and let's just say, I had not expected that a bit less than a year ago when I released the first chapter. Let's hope this one reaches that number as well in the future!  
_

* * *

Holt silently moved away from the window he had been spying through. The group had stopped when Miranda had seen some movement from inside said house. Miranda had then tried to order Holt to have a closer look before Shepard had reminded the Cerberus officer of who was in charge. She had then given the same order to Holt anyway but still, felt nice to know that Shepard sort of had his back.

"Just like the good old days..." Holt mumbled to himself. It really did feel like it. Once they had gotten past the whole 'working for Cerberus'-thing, they had been able to work together like a couple of years ago. Shepard had mentioned something about wanting a summary of the last two years once the mission was done and over with. Hopefully that would remove some more tension between them.

"He's been gone for several minutes already. How can we be sure he wasn't spotted?" Holt heard Jacob ask the others once he got close to where the team was hiding. Rolling his eyes over how little faith the new face had in him, he decided to sneak closer and listen in for a bit.

"I think we would've heard a firefight from here." Shepard argued as Holt leaned over the railing and looked down at them. Seems like they had no idea he was there. Cloaks really made everything too easy, why didn't everyone have them?

"He could've been taken by surprise? There are plenty of ways you can bring someone down quietly." Jacob continued.

"I highly doubt that defense drones have the capability to take down someone with stealth..." Shepard said as she busied herself by checking that all her weapons were in working condition. "And if Holt got taken by surprise by some mindless drone, I'm blaming Cerberus for somehow breaking him. He was working just fine when he worked for me." That's right, Shepard! You tell them!

"Something was already broken when we got him." Miranda countered and Holt looked over towards Shepard, expecting her to defend his honor again.

"Mentally, there was always something wrong with him." Betrayal! "I'm talking physically, a couple of drones shouldn't be any trouble for him."

"Maybe the ones who made the colonists disappear are still around?" Jacob suggested and Holt decided it was time to make himself known to them.

"Could've just contacted me on the comm if you guys were so worried." He said as he saw all three of them turn their guns towards him. Chuckling at the sight of all them silently cursing him for surprising them, he started walking down the nearby stairs towards them.

"Could've contacted us through the comm to avoid giving me a heart attack..." Shepard mumbled angrily at him as they all lowered their weapons.

"Cerberus would fix you up again, no problem."

"We would rather not spend another two years and-"

"So there's a couple of quarians in the building." Holt interrupted Miranda as he informed them of what he had seen.

"Quarians?" Jacob asked, seemingly unconvinced.

"Either that or very thin krogans?" Holt suggested.

"Why would quarians be interested in what's happening with human colonies?" Shepard asked Miranda who simply shrugged.

"They're the last group I would suspect that have any interest in what's happening."

"What were they doing?" Jacob asked him to which Holt gave off a tired sigh at the amount of information that was required before they took action.

"Talking."

"About what?"

"I don't know, I didn't get close enough to listen in." Holt slowly explained.

"Well, let's go ask them then." Shepard said as she started walking walking with silent steps up the stairs that Holt had taken just a few moments prior. As they crept closer to the building, Shepard silently started telling them her plan in how to handle this. "We still don't know if they're hostile or not towards us, so let's enter the building ready for a fight but make it clear that we do not desire one." She turned towards Holt for the last part. "No cloak, we don't want them to somehow notice you and believe we're trying to ambush them."

"As you wish, Shepard." Holt answered. Normally, he would've been against not using every resource at their disposal. But he trusted Shepard enough to follow her orders. Also, opposing orders wouldn't help him if he wanted to get on good terms with her again. They quickly stacked up on both sides of the door and as they realized it was unlocked, they all gave a quick nod signalling that they're ready before they all entered the house. The quarians quickly responded by raising their weapons but holding off firing them as their very familiar leader began speaking.

"Who're yo-... Shepard?"

"Tali?" Shepard asked, almost having the same look as she had earlier when Holt and Joker had met her.

"Shepard?" As in Commander Shepard?" One of the other turians asked as he looked towards Tali for confirmation.

"Shepard?" Jacob asked as he looked over towards their leader, seemingly hoping that Shepard would explain who this quarian was.

"Holt." Holt said out loud, not wanting to be left out of this reunion.

"Holt..." Miranda sighed as he could see her slowly shaking her head in disappointment in the corner of his vision.

"Holt?" Tali asked, just as surprised as she had been when she had seen Shepard. "I thought... Weren't you both dead!?" She asked as she motioned for the other quarians to lower their weapons. Once they obliged, Shepard's group did the same.

"I was, long story." Shepard answered as she walked closer.

"I wasn't, long story." Holt said as he and the Cerberus members stayed by the door. Better to let Shepard handle the diplomatic stuff.

"I'll tell you about it later." Shepard said as Tali embraced her in a hug once she was within reach. "Heh, it's good to see you again, Tali." The quarian took a quick step back, seemingly embarrassed by her sudden action.

"Sorry Shepard! I just didn't..."

"What's going on here, Tali? What're you doing here?"

"We're here to collect someone who came here on his pilgrimage." The quarian explained as she looked between Shepard and the rest of the group. "As for what happened here, we don't know."

"How do you know if your quarian friend is still here?" Miranda asked.

"We can track his suit and that's still here." One of the other quarians answered.

"But what about you, Shepard?" Tali jumped in again. "Are you still with The Alliance? Did they send you to investigate this colony?" She continued as she looked between Shepard and Holt and he could hear what she was really asking. There was no way he and Shepard could be on the same team if she was still with The Alliance.

"I'm currently... not with The Alliance."

"I recognize that insignia..." The same other quarian said with an angry voice. "They're Cerberus." He said while motioning towards Miranda and Jacob. Thankfully, Holt's suit had no such giveaway.

"Shepard?" Tali looked towards her old Commander, seemingly hoping that Shepard would deny it all. Shepard looked like she wanted nothing more than to do just that, but gave off a small sigh before she answered.

"I'm currently working with some members from Cerberus, investigating the disappearance of the human colonists." Holt could clearly see Tali struggling to take it all in even if her face was hidden behind a mask. Hopefully, Tali was under the belief that Holt was not one of those members, he was not looking forward to having to explain that he was working directly for Cerberus. "Holt is one of those members." Shepard continued and for the first time in a very long time, Holt felt the urge to call her a bitch. That feeling quickly faded as he saw how much she was struggling having to face someone from her old team and having to say that she was working with the enemy. Perhaps this would be easier on her if Holt was the bad guy in all of this.

"The pay is quite good." He said nonchalantly and could feel the stares from Tali, hitting him like daggers. Shepard better fucking understand what his intention was.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"There always has to be some sort of giant, more powerful enemy right next to our goal." Shepard heard Holt chuckle before another explosion caused her ears to start ringing again. She would go deaf if it kept going like this.

"Less talking, more destroying giant death robot!" Shepard ordered as she moved to take cover behind a different wall. The last one didn't really function as cover anymore.

"It almost blew my leg off the first time I tried to approach. I'm not trying again on the off-chance that it has some highly advanced stealth detection system." Holt explained as he was suddenly next to Shepard. Seems like his cover had been blown as well, literally.

"We need a big-ass weapon for this one!" She heard Jacob yell from his position outside the building where the quarians were taking cover. They had gotten here before Shepard's group and were pretty banged up.

"I got a big-ass weapon in m-"

"The thing must be linked to some sort of fail-safe." Miranda interrupted Holt before he could finish what he was about to say. "There's no way the colonists would have something like that here without another way of shutting it down other than walking up to it."

"Probably in the building that the giant pile of scrap metal won't let us near." Holt suggested before their new cover shook violently as the thing started shooting at them again. "He's after you, you go somewhere else." Holt said and Shepard's head snapped towards him.

"You're the one with explosives. If there's anyone he's pissed off at it's you!" She argued back. Shepard had realized that he had taken majority of the blow when they had told Tali who they were working for. Or working _with_, Shepard reminded herself. She had found it more and more difficult to avoid going back to how she and Holt worked before. Before she knew it, she was busy cracking jokes in the middle of fire fights, just like old times.

"Nah, me and machines have this special connection. If there's anyone that doesn't get along with anything synthetic, it's you." Another explosion reminded them of the danger they were in and Shepard decided to steer them back towards their objective.

"Can you get into the building on the far side?" She asked, motioning towards the building that Holt had mentioned probably contained a way to shut this damn thing down.

"Easy." Holt said before he faded from view. Shepard could hear his footsteps taking the long way around before he completely vanished from both her eyes and ears.

"Let's keep this th-" An explosion that was so close that it blew debris right into Shepard's arm interrupted her. "Let's keep this thing focused on us, was what I was about to say." She ordered through gritted teeth. That was gonna leave a mark.

"You okay, Shepard?" She heard Jacob ask over the comm as she started running towards new cover, as far away as possible from the quarians and Holt.

"Barely felt it." She lied with a smile as she was almost pleased to hear that she had the enemy's attention. The shots flew all around her and the occasional explosion were familiar sounds to her. It had taken a couple of fights but she was finally starting to get back into her old form. The next couple of minutes passed by in a flash as her mind was constantly focused on avoiding bullets and bombs. Was quite a good time-waster.

"Has the mech been shut down yet?" Shepard suddenly heard Holt's voice ask her over the comm. Before she had a chance to answer, the thing fired yet another explosive in her direction. "I'll take that as a 'no'." He continued in a thoughtful voice.

"Weren't you supposed to be good when it came to tech?" Shepard asked, a bit frustrated that she couldn't do anything to stop this herself. Never again is she gonna go on a mission without at least a couple of heavy firearms.

"Veetor has done something with this thing. It's all a mess, really."

"Veetor as in the quarian that Tali and her squad was looking for?" Shepard asked as the sound of bullets flying over her head started dying down.

"Might be another quarian that just happened to be that's also named Veetor, who knows." Holt continued as Shepard looked over towards Miranda who was glancing out of cover. The Cerberus officer gave a nod before she holstered her weapon, Shepard doing the same. "How about now?" Holt asked.

"That did it." Shepard answered the man as she began making her way over towards the quarians to make sure they were still breathing. "How can you be sure that Veetor was the one that activated the thing?"

"He sort of rambled it out." Holt explained with a chuckle.

"He's in there?" Shepard asked, confused. They haven't even found a corpse since they landed and this quarian was still alive and breathing? "What do you mean he 'rambled' it out?"

"He seems to be a bit out of it... Better you come see for yourself." Holt explained as Shepard noticed Miranda heading her way.

"Shepard. I think it would be best if we were the first ones to reach this Veetor." The Cerberus officer argued as Jacob also made his way over.

"I know what you're hinting at, Lawson." Shepard said as she never stopped walking. "But I'll let Veetor's own people decide what they wanna do with him." She could tell that Miranda was about to start argue so Shepard raised a hand before the other woman could get a word in. "We will of course ask him about exactly what happened here. But we're not gonna do this in usual Cerberus-style and simply collect the person to... 'question' him later on." Shepard said with a tone that hopefully got her point across. Miranda didn't seem to agree but quickly nodded before she fell in behind Shepard.

"You tell her, Shepard!"

"And that counts for you as well, Holt." Shepard warned the man on the other end of the comm line as she felt Miranda's mood drop after his comment. Tali had been glad to hear about Veetor's... physical well-being and had gone with Shepard alone as some of the quarians were in no position to move just yet. Once they reached the building that Holt and Veetor was in, Shepard immediately saw what Holt had meant earlier. Veetor was sitting in front of numerous screens, all of them showing nothing but static lines and fluttering.

"Veetor?" Tali asked in a low voice as she made her way over to the other quarian. Veetor didn't seem to notice and Shepard threw a questioning glance towards Holt.

"How did you get through to this guy?"

"Like this." Holt said as he waved his omni-tool in an arc, shutting down all the screens. Veetor simply brought his hands down from the console and turned towards Holt. "What the hell? That's not how he reacted last time I did it." Holt said with confusion in his voice.

"You interrupted me earlier!" Veetor said, his voice sounding more than a bit shakey.

"What happened here, Veetor?" Shepard asked, not wanting Holt to start an argument with possibly the only that could tell them what happened here. The quarian looked towards her for a split second before he noticed Tali next to her. He seemed to finally realize all the people in the room and looked nervously from one to the next.

"It's okay now, Veetor. We're here to bring you back to the flotilla." Tali said reassuringly while placing a hand on his shoulder. The quarian seemed to calm down a bit upon hearing the words and turned back towards Shepard.

"I honestly don't know. All the colonists suddenly... I don't know, froze." He said as he looked down on his omni-tool. Shepard looked towards her squad with a raised brow. They all shrugged in return.

"What happened to them after that?" Shepard asked the quarian, eager to get to the bottom of this whole mess.

"I hid..." Veetor managed to whisper out. "I hid as they came..."

"This sounds ominous..." Holt commented as Veetor went back to work on something on his omni-tool.

"Who came, Veetor?" Shepard asked, as calmly as she could. All the screens suddenly went back online, showing the picture of a creature Shepard had never seen before.

"What the hell..." She heard Jacob murmur behind her. Shepard kept looking at the creature on the screen as Veetor continued.

"They had tried to delete all the footage. This is the only picture I managed to salvage."

"I've never seen anything like it before." Tali said as she stepped closer.

"I have the feeling that we will see it again..." Shepard said as she silently cursed to herself. Batarian slavers would've been easy to deal with. An unknown race that she had never seen before? Where would she even begin?


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"You think I'm gonna walk away before I get what was promised me?" Holt said in a low, threatening tone. Slowly walking back and forth, waiting for his target to spit out what it was he wanted.

"Holt..." He heard Miranda sigh in exhaustion behind him. Paying no attention to her, he continued.

"I'm not leaving until I get what's rightfully mine. If I'll have to resort to violence to get it, it'll just make it that much more entertaining for me..."

"Is he really talking to..." Jacob asked behind him, uncertain how to finish his question.

"Yes, just ignore him." He heard Miranda answer. Turning around to look at his fellow Cerberus coworkers, Holt started explaining how serious the situation really was.

"I paid good credits for this. I'm just not gonna walk away empty handed."

"Couldn't you just get a drink in the nearest breakroom?" Jacob suggested. "You could get drinks for free over there, you being part of Cerberus and all."

"Ignore him, Jacob." Miranda tried again.

"I've paid the damn machine three times and I still haven't gotten my drink!" Holt exclaimed as he kicked the vending machine that had turned into his new archenemy. Hearing a soft thump, he looked down and saw that the machine had finally released it's iron grip on what was rightfully his. "That's more like it." He said as he went to pick up his drink only to have another two drop on top of his hand. Narrowing his eyes, he looked up towards the attacker. "It's gonna take more than that to take me out."

"Is he always like this?" He heard Jacob ask after a few moments of silence.

"Ignore him."

"Anyways, I could go to a breakroom but Shepard told us to wait here." Holt explained as he threw the other two bottles towards Jacob and Miranda. Jacob happily opened his while Miranda simply put hers aside. Ignoring her bad manners, Holt turned towards Jacob to hopefully kill some time. "Don't wanna give her more reasons to be upset."

"I don't know, that punch she gave you was quite entertaining." The man chuckled.

"I wouldn't know, my memory is a bit fuzzy around that time." Holt said as he lightly rubbed his chin. It had not even been a day since he had met Shepard again after her 'death' but it already felt like a lifetime ago. Guess his mind was still struggling to really get around the fact that she was back. Or maybe he simply had some sort of concussion.

"Just remember who you're really working for, Holt." He suddenly heard Miranda remind him. Giving her a questioning look, she sighed and continued. "We could've gotten some much needed information from Veetor. If you reminded Shepard of that she might've changed her mind." She said before turning her eyes back to her omni-tool. "Instead we let his quarian friends bring him back to their flotilla."

"I highly doubt Shepard would've changed her mind no matter what I said."

"Change my mind about what?" Shepard's voice suddenly echoed from the doors leading to the comm room. Seems like her meeting with TIM was over already. Holt was about to think of something to say until Miranda answered in his place, clearly eager to butt heads with Shepard again.

"Your decision regarding Veetor." Miranda said and Holt instantly backed off a few steps, not wanting to end up between the glares of the two women. In the corner of his vision, he saw Jacob do the same.

"It was my decision to make, I don't care if you don't agree with it." Shepard said with a low voice, crossing her arms to add to the commanding aura she so often emitted.

"I don't agree with it, but I'll respect it." Miranda said after a few tense moments.

"Be prepared to keep respecting my decisions." Shepard said as she motioned for them all to follow her towards the docks.

"This means you've agreed to work with Cerberus for now?" Jacob asked and Holt was glad that the man had been smart enough to use the word 'with' instead of 'for'. He highly doubted Shepard was ever gonna truly join Cerberus.

"Until we can find enough evidence to convince The Council that the threat is real." Shepard explained. "The Reapers are behind this, I'm sure of it."

"That might take a while, you know." Holt said with a smile, glad to know that he would be working with Shepard for some more time. "I mean, one of those reapers literally fell on top of them back on the Citadel two years ago and they still kind of refuse to believe it was anything other than a big geth ship."

"Please don't tell me Udina is still on the council." Shepard said with a painful look.

"As if someone like him would let anything short of death stop him from having that kind of power." Holt answered with a chuckle.

"Someone like him would fit right in with your organization..." He heard Shepard mutter. Thinking about it, she had a point. Udina would fit right in with Cerberus.

"You would have to bring that suggestion to someone like Miranda." Holt said while nodding towards the Cerberus woman who still looked upset after her small confrontation with Shepard just a moment earlier. "She handles our recruitment, after all."

"It's not my primary task within Cerberus."

"And still you took the time to recruit me." Holt said with a sweet tone. "You're making me blush." Shepard was about to say something before a sprinting Joker caught their attention. Or well, more like furiously limping Joker.

"This is the best day in the history of everything!" He exclaimed while approaching them.

"Eh don't know about that. But I'll give it a solid seven out of ten at least."

"You'll change your mind soon enough, Holt!" Joker said while practically bouncing up and down. Holt wondered if they would have to call for medics soon, Joker's legs were destined to break any moment now.

"Stand still, Joker." Shepard stopped that possibility by calming the man down. "What are you talking about?" She then asked to which joker started more slowly walking back the way he had arrived from.

"You'll see! Oh, I can't wait to see your fac-"

"He's excited about your new ship being ready." Miranda suddenly interrupted with a dead-pan voice. Joker abruptly stopped and turned to throw a viscous glare towards the Cerberus officer.

"Couldn't let me have some fun?" He asked, irritation clearly visible on his face.

"The new ship?" Shepard asked, looking at Joker to which he gave off a sigh and continued walking.

"Damn surprise is spoiled now anyway..." He muttered before he continued. "The ship that The Illusive Man promised you, it's quite something."

"Is it anything like The Normandy?" Holt asked, curious to what kind of ship it was that managed to bring this kind of reaction out of Joker. The pilot simply chuckled as he kept walking. Not long after, they came within view of a ship that obviously was the one Joker had talked about. "Well, day just turned into a eight out of ten." Holt said while blowing an impressed whistle at the sight of the thing.

"Feast your eyes on The Normandy SR-2... I know I will for the rest of my life." Joker said as he continued moving towards the entrance of the ship.

"Keep your pants on, Joker." Holt yelled after the pilot as he stayed behind with Shepard who was still taking in the sight of the ship. Miranda and Jacob were both heading towards the thing as well, clearly not as impressed since they had not spent as much time with the first one. "Jane Shepard is actually speechless?" Holt asked with a grin, a slight teasing tone in his voice. Shepard's face snapped to face him and Holt braced for a fist flying his way, he must've said something wrong again. Or maybe she had just been holding back until they were alone.

"It's certainly worthy of the name." Shepard simply said and turned her attention back towards the new Normandy. Confused at the lack of fists to his face, Holt slowly started making his way in the direction that the others had gone. "And come find me later, Holt." He heard her remind him after just a step. "We need to talk." Holt closed his eyes in defeat. Nothing good ever came after hearing a woman say that.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_A/N - Long chapter (long being average to every other story on this site but whatever) this time. It's so much more fun writing this when the main characters are both present. Also got a message that sort of went like "wtf where is romance you lying prick?" Just to assure everyone that is wondering the same thing, the romance will be here. It's just that I'm gathering the courage to write that part. I also enjoy tormenting the ones who're begging for it. And come on, you gotta built up towards the romance and not simply throw it in the readers' face, right? RIGHT!?  
_

* * *

"Joker." Shepard said to the back of the pilot's chair as she approached. The chair slowly turned around, revealing a bitter pilot with a frown on his face. "What's wrong?" She asked, although she already had a pretty good idea what was bothering the man.

"I was under the impression that I was a pilot, Shepard." He said before going quiet. Shepard was unsure if that had been a question and that she should answer or simply let him take his time. After a few silent moments she decided that it had to be the former.

"You are."

"Could've fooled me!" Joker said while motioning towards the holographic eye silently observing them. The ship's AI, that The Illusive Man had forgot to mention was part of the ship, was not something Joker enjoyed having there. "Bytes for brains here didn't let me take the ship out of port. It didn't even ask me!"

"Such a mundane task-" EDI, which apparently was the AI's name, started before Joker cut it off.

"I don't care if an armless vorcha could do it! I'm the pilot and the ship's mine to pilot!" Shepard suppressed a chuckle as she watched the argument between the two. Most people might've been uncomfortable having an AI with so much power aboard a ship but Shepard highly doubted that The Illusive Man had planted it here to do any harm towards Shepard. It was simply there to spy on her and she would simply ask someone with a bit more technical expertise to limit just how much EDI heard or saw. That line of thought brought her back to why she had approached Joker in the first place.

"Have you seen Holt?" She asked the pilot, breaking up his rant about how a human mind would always do better in combat scenarios. Joker turned towards her with a slightly amused expression.

"His turn to have 'the talk', eh?" He chuckled as Shepard simply shrugged. "I don't know, let me take a-"

"Mr. Holt is currently located in his quarters on the crew deck." EDI suddenly explained, to which Joker loudly cursed out.

"At least she didn't steer the ship this time." Shepard tried with a smile. Joker simply threw his glare towards her instead.

"'Her'? No, no, no... It's a 'it'." Joker began as he was checking a screen. "And Holt isn't in his damn quarters. He's in port observation."

"Mr. Holt got into the system not long after you boarded and changed the name to 'Holt's Quarters'." EDI explained. "When I questioned his actions, he explained to me that he simply called 'dibs'."

"That damn ass..." Joker began muttering. "He better be willing to share the stuff from the bar or I'll..." Was all Shepard heard before she was out of earshot. She didn't particularly care that Holt had done something like that. It simply showed that he was still his old self and able to get into the ship's systems. As long as he, like Joker mumbled about, shared the contents of the bar it was no big deal.

"Commander." A woman said with a salute as Shepard reached the elevator doors. Yeoman Kelly Chambers, another pair of eyes sent by The Illusive Man to keep track of her, no doubt.

"Chambers." Shepard responded with a half-smile and a nod. No point in being hostile towards everyone on this ship that was tasked with keeping an eye on her. As long as they were no direct threat towards her, she would treat them like any other crew.

"Are you off to your quarters?" The other woman asked as she remained by her station that was nearby. "It's been a long day with a lot of stuff to take in." Understatement of the year, right there. Waking up from a two year coma followed by almost non-stop fighting was really tiresome.

"Not just yet, I need to speak with someone in the crew."

"Nathan Holt?" She asked and Shepard must've given it away that she was correct because the yeoman continued. "I guess you have plenty of questions to ask after two years apart." Well, it had not felt like two years for Shepard at least. The more difficult thing that she had to wrap her head around was that the man wasn't dead after all.

"I'm guessing that you've been given a profile over all of the crew members?" Shepard asked in a friendly tone as she stepped into the now open elevator and selected the crew deck. She was sort of curious over exactly what was written in hers, just how much did Cerberus know?

"Correct." Chambers answered with a smile. "Good luck in your talk, Commander." She added before the elevator doors shut tight. Shepard would have to be careful over what she said in that woman's presence. Before long, she was in front of Holt's quarters, previously known as port observation. Taking a deep breath to shake off the nervousness she hated herself for having, she knocked on the door with determination before stepping in. She noticed that Holt must've done some light redecorating as one sofa had been moved so that it was facing the giant glass panel that showed the galaxy outside. A bed, that must've been ragged from another room, was set up in the corner, almost completely hidden by another sofa with a table in front of it.

"Like what I've done with the place?" She heard Holt asked from the sofa in front of the window. She heard on the very slight slur and a very faint smell in the air that he had been drinking. Couldn't have been a lot since she knew how he acted like when he had been drinking heavily. And the only reason she knew that was because she had been equally drunk that evening when the two of them had wobbled back on to the first Normandy. Forcing that embarrassing memory away from her mind, she responded.

"Could've been worse, I suppose." She said as she made her away around the sofa to get a better look at him. He looked up towards her for a moment before he turned his attention back towards the thousands of stars outside, his face unreadable. That kind of frustrated Shepard as she often used her skills in reading people to steer her conversations. "Thought it was the Captain's decision to make if a crew member wanted to change rooms?" She asked as she made her way over to the bar. The drink in Holt's hand had convinced her to have one herself. Only one though, she told herself.

"I called dibs first, that overrules the Captain's decision." Holt answered and Shepard could sense the smile on his face. As she returned to the sofa, she sat down next to him and simply enjoyed the moment as she could properly rest for the first time in what felt like decades. She had been busy ever since they boarded the ship with meeting the crew and exploring the ship. Although, she had been stuck down in the med-bay for quite a while as someone she certainly had not expected to meet was there, preparing for the mission ahead. How Dr. Chakwas had ended up in Cerberus she would find out tomorrow. Right now, she needed to hear Holt's story.

"What happened on Virmire?" She asked and could hear the ice lightly hitting each other in Holt's drink. That tiny reaction told her that he was nervous about explaining whatever it was that happened.

"Short or long version?" He inquired.

"I think I deserve the long one." She answered, a bit more harsh than she had intended.

"Yeah, you do." Holt sighed and a few moments of silence followed before he continued. "I'm guessing I don't have to explain the reason why I had been on The Normandy, right?" He asked to which Shepard nodded.

"I was told about your connection to The Shadow Broker." She said before she added a question of her own. "I never got it confirmed though but I'm guessing that he sold you out?" She asked to which Holt simply nodded. "Why did he do it?" She asked, hoping for a specific answer.

"He sort of noticed the lack of information about The Normandy that he was supposed to be getting from me." Holt said with a chuckle before he took a sip of his drink. Shepard felt like her mood brightened considerably upon hearing that. She and Garrus had been theorizing that what Holt just said had been the reason as to why the Shadow Broker suddenly wanted him dead. "I was warned by... a friend that I was about to be 'relocated' after Virmire."

"Relocated?"

"Relocated to a nice little coffin out in the middle of nowhere, no doubt."

"So you decided to go and blow yourself up?" Shepard asked, not believing Holt to be one to go down that road.

"I always wanted to go out with a bang." He faced with a grin which quickly faded as Shepard frowned at him. Sighing, he continued. "It was never my plan to almost die down there. I simply underestimated the power of the bomb, again." He added and Shepard was reminded of another event with Holt. She really shouldn't let him handle explosives ever again.

"Why didn't you simply tell me about... well, everything?"

"To tell the truth? I was scared of your reaction." He quickly answered and Shepard was surprised to hear what she did. "That, and on the off-chance that you would let me remain on the team that you would take a lot of shit for that decision from The Alliance." He added before he finished his drink and went to get another one. Shepard remained sitting while staring blankly out the window. Once Holt returned, she asked him to continue.

"So what happened on Virmire after the explosion?"

"Had a nice little rest for almost two days." Holt said in a low voice. "You remember me talking about my past as a tunnel rat on Omega?" Shepard nodded and Holt took another mouthful of the drink, seemingly preparing to continue. "I'm still not the biggest fan of small places such as vents or having the feeling of being trapped. So the time spent during those hours when I was trapped beneath, what felt like, a whole building wasn't the best time of my life." He said with a bitter chuckle and Shepard felt a pang of guilt. If she had known that Holt had been alive down on Virmire once they were leaving she would've turned the ship around.

"And Cerberus was the first ones to find you?" She guessed to which Holt nodded

"They pretty much told me that I either join them or pray to the nearest deity that someone else comes around before it was too late." Holt said as he sank further down in the sofa. "To be fair, they told me that The Shadow Broker wouldn't be able to locate me if I was with them. That promise lasted almost a whole month."

"And the reason to why you're still with Cerberus?" Shepard asked but she had a pretty good idea why already.

"Kinda don't wanna piss off more powerful organizations, if I can help it." Holt said with a sigh. "And so far, they haven't given me a gun and told me to go on a mindless rampage on some alien planet, so that's a plus." He added with a weary smile and Shepard couldn't help but return it.

"I'm glad that you haven't changed, Nathan." She sort of blurted out and Holt looked at her with a questioning glance. "Easy to get upset with but impossible to stay mad at." She added which made Holt laugh. While small, it was the first genuine laugh since they had met after both their 'deaths'.

"Also good to see that you're still the same old Jane." He said once his laughter died down. "Not counting that almost glowing scar close to your hairline." Shepard raised her hand to touch it.

"Chakwas said it will disappear before long."

"Chakwas is here?" Holt asked, not sounding very surprised.

"You didn't know she had joined Cerberus?"

"I'm not aware of a lot of things concerning Cerberus." Holt muttered, Shepard remembered how much the man hated being left out when it came to knowing things. She was the same, she hated going into things blindly.

"Poor Holt, being left out in the dark." She chuckled teasingly as she took a sip of her drink. It might've been her slight dehydration, but it was the most refreshing drink she'd ever had.

"Oh well, now I have that glowing scar to guide me." Holt responded with a chuckle of his own before they settled into a comfortable silence as they stared out towards the stars. Just like old times, Shepard thought.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

"Home sweet home..." Holt said with a weak smile as he, Shepard, Miranda and Jacob made their way through the docking area on Omega. He had been informed earlier that day that this would be their first stop in gathering more members for the squad. Seems like the mission called for some specialists.

"Don't know if I would call it 'sweet'..." Shepard said with a low voice as Holt could see her eyes scanning every corner for hostiles. "I'm guessing we should expect trouble?"

"Unless people have forgotten the rule of Omega, I think we're fine while in this area." Holt answered as Jacob threw in a question of his own.

"Just one rule?" Before Holt could answer, Shepard did it for him.

"Don't fuck with Aria." She said before looking over to Holt for confirmation.

"That's right."

"This Aria should also be able to point us in the direction of our targets. I think we should pay her a visit first of all." Miranda suggested to which Shepard nodded in agreement. Holt started thinking of a plan to excuse himself from this meeting, he wasn't sure exactly how the asari would act upon seeing him again.

"Having Holt with us should make her more open about sharing infor-... Holt?" Shepard's voice brought him out of his planning. Looking over towards her, he gave her a forced smile, hoping that it would mask his uneasiness.

"What's up?"

"You look like you're planning to slip away." This woman was getting too good at reading him. Surely, two years should've aged his face a bit, making it more difficult to read. Maybe a surgery was in order, or maybe start wearing a helmet 24/7. "Please don't tell me you left on bad terms. I really don't feel like running around doing errands just for information about some people's whereabouts."

"No, no. Aria was fully aware and supportive of my departure." Holt reassured and could see Miranda's disbelieving stare in the corner of his eyes. "I know it's hard to believe but I'm actually capable of leaving a group without them demanding my head on a plate."

"Then what's the problem?" Shepard asked, now in a slightly more worried tone. Holt decided that these sort of trivial problems weren't needed. Shepard had enough to deal with without Holt simply being nervous about meeting someone who's had a large impact on his life.

"Nothing important. Follow me, I know every possible shortcut on this floating ball of scrap metal." He said with a chuckle as he took point. Miranda and Jacob quickly followed but he heard Shepard remained still for a moment before she jogged up to his side.

"Listen..." He heard her whisper low enough so that the rest of the group wouldn't hear. "If you're worried about something you can tell me, alright?" Same old Shepard, always willing to listen to her subordinates' problems. This hardly counted as a 'problem' though, just Holt being childish.

"It's really nothing worth mentioning, Shepard." He said with a smile, hoping that she would burden herself anymore with his stupid thoughts.

"I think it is." She said, determination clear in her voice. "If you're worried about running into your mother, you can stay back o-" Holt looked down on her, the confusion must've been obvious on his face as her sentence died off.

"My mother?" He asked for confirmation. Shepard looked around, uncertainty had replaced her voice and face.

"That's not the reason to why you seem skittish?" She asked and Holt let out a small laugh.

"To be honest Shepard, I doubt I would even recognize the woman if we walked past her on the street." He explained as he decided to open up a bit. Shepard seemed to be determined to play psychologist anyway so he might as well not fight it. "I guess I'm just nervous about meeting the people I do remember the faces of."

"You're not the slightest bit interested in looking up your biological mother then?"

"Unless she's one of the people we're recruiting for the mission, no."

"Right then, I'll stop bringing it up." Shepard said in a slight apologetic tone.

"Don't worry about it." Holt felt the need to reassure her. It wasn't like she had struck a nerve or anything.

"You haven't been given the list of people we're looking for?" She asked as they approached the entrance to the district where Afterlife was located. Unless they had moved the bar since last time Holt was here, that is.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't." Holt said as he tried to peer over Shepard's shoulder as she was busy navigating her omni-tool. He considered leading her into a steel pillar while her eyes were fixed on the screen but decided against it. She was probably not that careless and her possible retaliation wouldn't be worth the risk.

"Three of them are supposed to be on Omega right now." Shepard began explaining as Holt gave up trying to glance at her screen, it was difficult walking while hanging over another person like that. "_Archangel_, is that name familiar to you?"

"No, I would remember hearing such a nickname in the past."

"That's the name the civilians here in Omega have given the person." Miranda explained from behind them, apparently listening in on their conversation. How good was that woman's hearing? "Seems like he haven't been here for too long. But he has managed to piss off all the major merc groups."

"Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse." Shepard said as she went through a list on her omni-tool. "Who would be stupid enough to piss off that many dangerous organizations?" She added with a grin while looking over towards Holt. He simply scoffed and motioned towards her omni-tool.

"Look up how many of each group this Archangel has killed."

"Quite a few together with quite a lot of damage done to their facilities."

"Exactly, it's not very difficult to piss someone off if you break their nose but managing to piss someone off without even firing a single shot in their direction takes some real skill." Holt said with a weird sense of pride. Odd, considering he had wanted nothing more but avoid subjects like this only 24 hours ago. And here they were now, joking about it.

"You'll have to give the man or woman some pointers when we find the person later." Shepard said with a small laugh. "Next one is a Dr. Mordin Solus." She continued and once again looked over to Holt.

"Name rings like one bell far back in my mind. I very much doubt I've heard the name being said on Omega though." Holt said as looked towards Miranda who was sure to explain further who this Mordin was.

"We don't know much about this solarians past mission or allegiances." She continued.

"Seems like we don't know a lot about anyone." Shepard sighed as the group started having more difficulties navigating the street as it became more and more crowded the closer to Afterlife they got. "Don't suppose you've heard anything about the last one on the list, someone called Zaeed." Hold on...

"Zaeed Massani?" Holt quickly asked, surely there must be other people out there named Zaeed. It didn't have to be the one he knew.

"Yeah, you know him?" Shepard asked with a raised brow. Holt tried convincing himself that there were plenty of Zaeed Massani's out there.

"It's someone Holt has worked with in the past." Miranda's voice helpfully explained.

"At least he won't be a complete stranger." Shepard said with a nod. "Would he be a good addition to the team?" She asked as she turned back towards Holt. He couldn't respond in any way other than a nervous laugh.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_A/N - Midsummer is soon upon us and I don't know how it works wherever you're from but here it means a lot of drinking, partying and regretting everything the next day. This chapter got delayed quite a bit since I had been tasked to make sure there will be enough drinks, partying and regret to go around this year. So I've been busy busy busy.  
_

* * *

"I must admit, I wasn't expecting a visit from people who're supposed to be dead." The asari sitting comfortable in the sofa opposite of Shepard said in a low, nonchalant voice. The asari, who apparently was the Aria she had heard so much about, had quickly allowed the group to speak with her face to face. "Although, I had a feeling your death was bullshit from the moment I heard about it." She added as she looked towards the man next to Shepard.

"Please tell me you had at least one drink to honor my memory. Just in case?" Holt jokingly asked, probably trying to lighten up the situation. It did look quite grim with how protective Aria's bodyguards seemed to be. One wrong move and this could turn ugly.

"But that Commander Shepard, the first human spectre, was actually alive all this time surprised even me." Aria continued, ignoring Holt for now.

"Wasn't actually 'alive all this time'..." Shepard muttered in response, not wanting to give away too much about what has happened or what might happen just yet. She wasn't completely sure if she could trust this asari. "Anyway, I was hoping you could point us towards some people. From what I understand, you're kinda the boss of Omega?" Aria simply showed a confident grin as she stood up and looked over the balcony, down on the busy bar beneath them.

"She _is _Omega..." Holt whispered in Shepard's ear, low enough so only she could hear it.

"I _am _Omega!" She heard the asari exclaim and had to suppress a smile as Holt rolled his eyes. He quickly collected himself though as Aria turned back to face them. "Who is it you're looking for?"

"Archangel, Mordin Solus and Zaeed Massani." Shepard listed off the targets. "You know where to find them?"

"Should've known you were after Archangel..." Aria said with an annoyed expression as she sat back down. Shepard had to say that this asari was a bit dramatic in her behavior. "Good luck getting to him though, he's made quite the few enemies among the local merc groups." She continued as she motioned for Shepard to sit down.

"We knew that already." Shepard said while taking a seat.

"But what you don't know is that the merc groups are right now busy killing him off." Aria said and Shepard fumbled to quickly stand back up.

"Say that again?" Shepard asked, maybe she had misheard.

"The Blue Suns, Eclipse and Blood Pack are right now doing a joint operation to bring Archangel down." Aria explained, seemingly slightly amused at Shepard's reaction. "If you're here to bring him back alive you better hurry."

"Guess that makes it pretty easy to decide who we go for first." Holt said with a chuckle.

"Are the other two we mentioned being hunted by several merc groups?" Shepard asked the asari as she slowly started making her way towards the stairs.

"This Mordin Solus you're looking for is currently in a quarantined area where no one can enter or leave." Aria said and Shepard couldn't help but groan in response. Just like old times, nothing was ever gonna be easy, was it? "And Zaeed has showed up in this very bar several times the last few days, shouldn't be too hard to find."

"You keep track of every single person on Omega?" Jacob asked from the back.

"Only the ones that are either interesting or possibly troublesome." Aria explained as she looked towards Holt for the first time since they arrived. "Also, Zaeed is a name that I've heard of before."

"I'm flattered that you kept an eye on me even after I left this place."

"I know you more than anyone, Holt." The asari said as she stood and began moving towards him. Shepard could swear that the man tensed up. "I always expected you to show up on my front door sooner or later, begging for me to hide you from some bad man who wanted you dead." She continued before she turned towards Miranda and Jacob who stood further in the corner. "Seems like you got someone else to protect your ass this time though."

"People were lining up to recruit me."

"I find that difficult to believe." Aria ended their conversation as she turned back to Shepard. "I'll give you the coordinates for where the merc groups have cornered Archangel." She said as she went for her omni-tool.

"Just like that?" Shepard asked, slightly confused. "You don't want any payment for the info?"

"If you're here to get Archangel off my station, that would be payment enough." Aria said with a slight frown as Shepard's omni-tool confirmed that she had received the location. "Vigilantes are more trouble than they are worth."

"Consider it done." Shepard said as she nodded to her team that they were leaving.

"Stop by later. It's not every day that dead spectres visit us." Shepard heard the asari say as she started making her way down the stairs. They quickly made their way through the crowd and once they were outside, Shepard turned towards Holt.

"Spotted Zaeed in there?"

"Nope." He simply answered.

"Were you actually looking?" Miranda asked with a frustrated tone. The Cerberus officer didn't seem to enjoy not being in a leadership position. Shepard didn't feel the slightest bit sorry for her though, she didn't like or trust the woman.

"Zaeed... kinda stands out from a crowd." Holt explained. "Even if you've never seen the man before you'd recognize him."

"You know the quickest way?" Shepard stepped forward and showed him her omni-tool screen. He glanced at it for a moment before he gave her a nod. "Lead the way." She ordered and Holt quickly began leading them towards their destination.

"If you want, we can take the scenic route and I'll show you the wonder that is Omega?" Holt started as they made their way through a small crowd. "The giant steel frames are a sight to behold at this time of the year."

"I had hoped that you had started taking things more seriously after working with Cerberus for over a year." Miranda said from the back of the group. That reminded Shepard of something that had been nagging her mind for a while.

"You two have worked together in the past?" Shepard asked.

"We were inseparable, weren't we?" Holt answered and Shepard immediately knew that was a lie.

"We have never worked together." Miranda quickly corrected.

"So that whole adventure we had when Saren attacked The Citadel didn't mean anything?"

"We hardly worked together during that event." Miranda said as she turned towards her omni-tool, a sure sign that she wasn't interested in continuing the conversation with Holt. "If you worked with anyone, it was Shepard."

"Old habits die hard." Holt answered with a chuckle as he lead them through the streets. Never once did he glance down on his omni-tool. Quite impressive that he would remember this place this well after all these years. "I see Shepard face off against some evil mastermind or ancient being that's larger than The Normandy and I just have to get in on that."

"Let's hope we'll keep them to a minimum this time." Shepard said with a small laugh. She had to admit, this was the kind of work that she enjoyed doing. The weeks that followed the battle of The Citadel had been so depressing with all the paperwork and interviews she had been forced to go through. Also during that time she had wanted nothing more than follow the gut feeling she had at the time that Holt was alive. And now she was back out on the field, with the man she had so desperately hoped was still among the living.

"With you leading the charge, Shepard. I very much doubt that will be the case." Holt answered with a laugh of his own. Shepard's mind started wandering back to the thoughts she had had during the time before her death. Those thoughts had been easy to have when Holt was out of reach but now that he was right next to her, those thoughts were a lot harder to contain.

"Promise me you'll face them with me once again?" She asked, slightly surprising herself at how soft her voice sounded. Glancing towards the Cerberus operatives that were with them, she was relieved to see that they either didn't hear or didn't care.

"You can count on it." Holt answered after a moment and while Shepard couldn't see his face as he was in the front of the group, she knew he was speaking the truth.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"You guys with a group or here as meat shields?" A batarian grunted as the group entered a street filled with members from the different mercenary groups. Holt glanced back at Shepard, she was the leader after all- It was up to her if they were gonna do this stealthily or run and gun them all down. Considering the amount of possible enemies, Holt was hoping for the former.

"We were told there were some easy creds to be had here." She answered with a very non-militaristic voice. Probably trying to blend in with the rest of the scum around them. "I'm guessing we're at the right place?"

"'Easy'? Yeah, sure." The batarian chuckled with a grin. "You'll get the creds once the bastard is dead." He moved to the side to let the group pass through. "We'll be launching our next attack in a few minutes. If you're late then you can kiss the creds goodbye." He called after them as they moved further down the street. Once they were outside the range of any prying ears, Shepard turned back to the rest of them.

"Glad we decided to take the infiltration route, don't know how well we would do against everyone here by ourselves." Jacob said as he eyed the small army around them. All of these guys were after just this one Archangel?

"Still haven't decided how we're supposed to get our guy out of here without being... well, pulverized." Shepard said as Holt could see her mind working at max trying to think of a strategy. "How familiar are you with this area, Holt?" She asked after a moment.

"Most of the buildings in this area are connected by quite a massive underground system." Holt said as he tried to remember. It had been some time, the bridge ahead of them seemed to be the only entrance to the building that several fighters were keeping an eye on. "Although, I find it hard to believe that none of the groups know about it. Archangel probably sealed the underground entrance."

"So the bridge is our only option?" Miranda concluded as she too looked over towards the building.

"Join with the assault, shoot them in the back and then escape through the underground passageway?" Jacob suggested to which Shepard shook her head.

"We don't know how well barricaded they are down there. If we're unlucky we'll be sandwiched." She explained. "I do agree with the first part though. Only problem is that I'm not sure how we're supposed to get out of there afterwards."

"That place looks ridiculously defendable. If we can get there quickly we might be able to simply drive them all off." Jacob said as Shepard motioned for them to follow as they went deeper into the filled camp of mercenaries. Must be at least a hundred of them here, Holt counted. They all had their visors down, someone might recognize Shepard and that wouldn't end well considering she was a well known enemy of most of the groups present.

"I'm not sure we can hold the place if they send these on us..." Miranda whispered as she motioned for big YMIR mechs, the same kind they had fought on Freedom's Progress, that was being prepared for the assault. Holt's eyes caught something that also looked to be bad news.

"That one over there is simply overkill." He chuckled as he pointed towards a gunship. He heard a groan of frustration from Shepard.

"Please tell me you can do something about all of them..." She said as her visor somehow managed to give off a pleading look.

"I'll make them more fragile than Joker's bones." Holt answered with a grin.

"How long will it take?" She asked and Holt counted the amount of mechs and how many mercs he needed to avoid spotting him tinkering with their toys.

"A few minutes. If someone helps me it'll go faster."

"You and Taylor deal with as many as you can then." Shepard ordered as she quickly looked around before continuing. "Me and Lawson will see if we can get any more information. Keep in radio contact, we need to move across the bridge together." She said as she walked away, Miranda right behind her.

"You any good with tech?" With his helmet now open, Holt asked the other man as he began moving closer to their targets. He didn't like using helmets unless it was necessary to... well, breathe with. He felt so confined in them.

"Some, but I'm not that knowledgeable when it comes to these things." Jacob answered with a low voice as a krogan walked past them. That was also something Holt was looking forward to, battling krogans. It had been a few years since last he fought one. And he still had a damn headache from that time Wrex charged him.

"You'll distract that Batarian over there then." Holt ordered as he motioned towards the batarian in question who was standing next to a row of the mechs.

"Right." Jacob gave him a nod and walked up to the batarian. Holt slowly made his way over the walking pile of scrap metals. Disabling them completely would be the easiest way to deal with them. But it might not be the most fun or effective way. They could prove useful while fully functional, depending on where they aimed their guns.

"All of these for just one guy..." Holt muttered, still in disbelief as he silently moved around the different machines. Jacob was doing a great job keeping the nearby batarian busy. Before long, he was done reconfiguring the things and made eye contact with Jacob to signal that he was done. Making his way towards the gunship, Jacob was soon next to him again.

"We won't have to worry about the mechs, I hope?" The other man asked as they slowly circled the gunship, searching for anyone nearby that could get in the way if they were about to modify the gunship as well.

"We won't, but the mercs will." Holt answered with a smirk as he looked around one last time before he brought out his omni tool and went to the nearby console which was connected with the ship.

"The one I spoke with said that all the freelancers will be in the first wave." Jacob mentioned as he acted as lookout.

"Makes sense, the different merc groups wants as few casualties as possible."

"But how are we supposed to avoid being killed by archangel if we join the charge?" The other man argued as Holt silently swore to himself. This ship was locked tight when it came to its software. One could think that they didn't want anyone tampering with it.

"Through my years on the field, I've found that taking cover makes it less plausible to be shot." Holt jokingly answered as he started over with trying to hack into the thing. He must've done something wrong to make it seal itself shut as it seem to have done. He had to be extra careful not to trigger any alarms, would be quite difficult to explain to the hundreds of mercs around them.

"True, but if we're here to take out the mercs... If we're not careful we'll be trapped on that bridge."

"It's fine... Just activate cloak and run for it."

"I don-"

"I give up." Holt interrupted Jacob as he kicked the ship in frustration. The damn thing couldn't get hacked when you were at a time limit like Holt was.

"So... Plan B?" Jacob asked with a shrug. Holt wondered why it felt like it was always up to him to solve a problem when he was working with other people. Except when he worked with Shepard of course.

"Plan B... Plan B..." Holt mumbled as he looked around and a grin soon showed up on his face as he looked into one of the corners. A box with some familiar looking things on top of that. Motioning for Jacob to wait, he quickly and silently moved over to the box and snatched a C-4.

"That's your plan B?" Jacob asked as Holt returned. Holt quickly jumped into the gunship and put the C-4 underneath the pilot's seat.

"The 'B' stands for 'Boom'." Holt joked as he connected the explosive with a small detonator and linked it with his omni-tool. Being very careful not to set it off while he was inside, he climbed out again.

"I'm almost afraid to ask what plan C stands for."

"'C-4 and a lot more of it'. But I doubt we'll have need of that plan." Holt answered as Shepard's voice suddenly sounded in their ears.

"We'll join the first wave in their assault across the bridge. Get your asses over there no or we'll be left behind." She ordered.

"Aye aye, Commander." Jacob said as they began moving back towards the bridge.

"Are the mechs dealt with?"

"The mercs will deal with them soon enough." Holt answered.

"And the gunship?"

"Explosives." Was all Holt gave for an answer and he could hear a sigh from the other end of the comm.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Because Holt has a bad record when it comes to explosives." Miranda's voice answered and Holt felt the need to correct the woman.

"I fail to see how any of my explosion attempts were failures. There was always a loud bang followed by varying amounts of destruction."

"Just try and not get yourself caught in the explosion this time..." He heard Shepard plead with a groan before the two women came into view as they reached the bridge.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Want me to point out a flaw in the plan?" Holt said with what Shepard knew was a grin plastered on his face.

"No." Shepard mumbled as she heard another merc get taken out. Barely a minute into the charge and almost ten of the first wave had been taken out by this Archangel. Shepard's team was fine though, fine but unmoving.

"I believe it to be vital to be said if we're to complete the mission." Holt continued as they remained crouched behind a barricade.

"I can see the flaw myself..." Shepard muttered. They were way too close to the merc camp to turn on them. They needed to get closer to the well fortified building that their target was in before they could start killing mercs themselves.

"I say we start shooting and hope for the best. Maybe this Archangel will be quick to realize that we're on their side?" Jacob suggested.

"Too risky." Shepard quickly said before she turned towards Holt. "Think you can make make it over there without getting shot?" She asked, remembering how easily the man was able to move throughout a battlefield unnoticed. Only thing she was worried about was Holts ability to actually convince the other party to not shoot him.

"I know I can." Holt answered as he vanished, quickly understanding what she wanted him to do.

"Now we just hope that Archangel doesn't shoot him on the spot..." She heard Miranda mutter.

"You don't believe in Holts skills of diplomacy?" Shepard asked with a chuckle.

"You know him better than anyone, Commander. That's a silly question of you to ask." Miranda answered as yet another merc fell dead on the ground close to them. This bridge was nothing but a deathtrap at the moment. So many lives wasted. The three of them waited for what felt like years, waiting for Holt to contact them. Shepard hated moments like these, when she had to send someone else to deal with a dangerous situation and she was powerless to help. Also didn't help that it was Holt that was the one in possible danger. She had already lost him once, she was not about to do it again.

"Commander?" Jacob's voice brought her back to reality. Without realizing, she had drifted off. Giving herself a mental slap to the face, she once again focused on the present.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"You don't think we should try and-" His words were cut off by another voice that came through their comms units.

"You can start moving guys, I've successfully converted Archangel to our side and we'll keep you covered while you make a run for it." Holts' voice came through with a joyful sound behind it.

"I refuse to believe it was that easy." Shepard said back as she wasted no time to head out of cover. Hearing the two Cerberus operatives following closely behind her, she gunned down the mercs that were hoping that their cover would be enough. They had not expected fire from behind and Shepard felt slightly guilty doing what she did. Geth was a lot easier to shoot, at least mentally.

"Heh, you'll believe it in a moment." Holt chuckled back at her as sniper shots were heard from above. Looked like Holt had found a new friend at least.

"Someone who trusted Holt that quickly can't be right in the head..." She heard Miranda say as they entered the building. Some mercs had successfully managed to get in but most of them had been injured or was simply cautious now that there were two snipers on the upper floor. They too didn't expect enemies flanking them and were quickly dealt with.

"That's the easy part done." Jacob said with a chuckle as they jogged up the stairs. Time to hold this fortress against the coming onslaught. As they entered the room with the balcony, Shepard spotted Holt without a helmet, settled in nicely next to another big framed person. Clearly a turian, by the looks of it. Holt glanced around and lightly poked the turian on the shoulder.

"See? Told you I wasn't the only ghost here." He said with a smile as he motioned for her to remove her helmet as well. The turian turned around after firing one last shot and removed his headgear too. What met her eyes was someone she had definitely not expected to be meeting anytime soon.

"Garrus?" She asked with a smile as she made her way towards the two. Holt went back to sniping runners on the bridge and Garrus slowly stood up and flashed, what Shepard believed to be the turian version of a smile himself.

"Shepard, you sure are a sight for sore eyes." Garrus said as they greeted each other with a quick embrace. It was the very same Garrus that had been with her against Saren.

"He gets a hug while I get a punch to the face? My poor feelings." Holt said with a sniff of his nose as his rifle kept firing shots. Garrus looked questionably as Shepard for an answer to what the man meant. Miranda and Jacob, obviously not as happy as Shepard to see Garrus, had taken positions around the room, looking out for hostiles.

"Never mind him." Shepard said with a quick wave of her hand. "What are you doing here of all places?"

"I think your story is way more interesting, to be honest." Garrus answered as he took a step back to get a better look on her. "I thought you were dead, we all did!"

"It's hardly an interesting story..." Shepard said with a low voice. Experiencing dying was something she didn't want to remember if she could help it. "Although, I guess we should deal with our current situation first?"

"Yeah, you're right." Garrus said with a chuckle as he quickly glanced out of the balcony. "Spirits... First Holt comes out of nowhere and now you're here." He mumbled as if he still couldn't believe it. A powerful rumble went through the building as the group braced themselves to remain standing.

"Please tell me that you sealed those underground tunnels Holt told me about." Shepard said as she looked over to the turian.

"I doubt it's sealed anymore." Holt said as his eyes were still fixed on the bridge. Shepard noted that the shooting had died down a bit. That might mean that the merc groups were about to try a different approach, such as attacking from underneath.

"Damn it." Garrus said with a low growl before he looked over towards Shepard. "You need to head down there with your squad and stop them. I can hold them off up here." Garrus said as he started moving back to the same place Holt was sitting.

"Fuck that." Shepard found herself saying before the turian had managed to take a step. Remaining up here by yourself would mean certain death once the mercs got serious and sent their own squads in. She had seen their numbers.

"They probably can't fit that big of a force down in the tunnels. Two of us can probably hold them off in such close quarters." Holt said as he stood up, apparently volunteering himself for the job. Shepard had to agree that him going down made most sense seeing as he was the one that knew the area, excluding Garrus possibly.

"Alright..." Shepard said as she looked over towards the bridge. She could see lots of movement on the other side. They would probably have to be three if they had any hope of holding the place. That added up quite well with that Holt had said. "Holt and Miranda head down there and see if you can shut them out again somehow. Don't be afraid to retreat if their numbers are larger than you can handle." Shepard said as she made sure to get eye contact with the man. She did not want them to put their lives too much on the line if they could help it. Miranda going with him made the most sense as well since they had worked together in the past. Had worked together very briefly, her mind reminded her as she managed to annoy herself with such immature thoughts in the middle of a battle field.

"Roger that, Commander." Miranda said and Shepard just managed to spot the woman letting out a small sigh. apparently, Holt noticed it as well.

"Come on, Miranda. It'll be fun!" Holt said as he started moving towards the stairs. The Cerberus woman mumbled something that Shepard couldn't hear. Shepard took Holts' place next to Garrus as she aimed down towards the bridge. She could just hear Holt swearing that he was forgetting something before he was out of ear-shot. Determined not to let anything break her focus on the mission again coupled with the joy of meeting Garrus, she thought nothing of what he had said.


End file.
